QRP, Portable, and Compromise Antennas

[Phil Hystad-3]

I have already experimented with this particular setup and sometime later this year I will try it out for real.  On both the Washington coast and the Oregon coast there are beaches that allow cars out on the sand.  This is easy to drive as the beaches are flat, firm, damp sand where the water is still 250 feet away on average.

I have driven my pickup out there many times at Ocean Shores, Washington and Cannon Beach, Oregon.  My next trip to Cannon Beach this summer (during the Seapac hamfest) I will set up a 1/2 wave 20 meter dipole.  I have a 35 foot long fiberglass telescoping pole that I stick in one of the stake holes of my pickup truck.  Then, with the center of my dipole attached to the top and coax already connected I extend the pole up to its full 35 foot length which puts the top of the dipole at 40 feet.  This can be done only when there is no wind as the top is not very stable as I have already discovered.  The ends of the dipole, sort of a inverted-V dipole, are connected to 6 foot long poles I pound into the sand a little bit, just enough for a stable anchor.  They are farther out then the length of each dipole leg since I will have dacron line for about 10 feet which keeps the dipole ends off the ground a bit.

I have experimented with this configuration here on my property but have not yet tried it out for real on the coast but I think this will work very nicely for QRP activity (although, I will also be able to operate 100 watts with my K3 too).

73, phil, K7PEH


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[Bill W4ZV]

Phil Hystad-3 wrote

I have a 35 foot long fiberglass telescoping pole that I stick in one of the stake holes of my pickup truck.  Then, with the center of my dipole attached to the top and coax already connected I extend the pole up to its full 35 foot length which puts the top of the dipole at 40 feet.  This can be done only when there is no wind as the top is not very stable as I have already discovered.  The ends of the dipole, sort of a inverted-V dipole, are connected to 6 foot long poles I pound into the sand a little bit, just enough for a stable anchor.

IMO you'd do far better configuring your antenna as a vertical dipole over salt water.

http://pages.prodigy.net/k2kw/dxcomp.htm
http://www.elecraft.com/DXpeditions/QRP_is.pdf
http://pages.prodigy.net/k2kw/learning.html

73,  Bill

[Phil Hystad-3]

Bill,

I would say I am way ahead of you but I am ahead of you but maybe not.  I am also considering buying a vertical antenna and mounting it (a temporary easy to put up portable mount) on my truck (maybe a stake hole or something else I fashion together).  So, this would not be a dipole but I was thinking of laying out some ground plane wires too.  Again, I need time to experiment with this.

PEH

On Apr 8, 2010, at 12:07 PM, Bill W4ZV wrote:

>
>
> Phil Hystad-3 wrote:
>>
>> I have a 35 foot long fiberglass telescoping pole that I stick in one of
>> the stake holes of my pickup truck.  Then, with the center of my dipole
>> attached to the top and coax already connected I extend the pole up to its
>> full 35 foot length which puts the top of the dipole at 40 feet.  This can
>> be done only when there is no wind as the top is not very stable as I have
>> already discovered.  The ends of the dipole, sort of a inverted-V dipole,
>> are connected to 6 foot long poles I pound into the sand a little bit,
>> just enough for a stable anchor.
>>
>
> IMO you'd do far better configuring your antenna as a vertical dipole over
> salt water.
>
> http://pages.prodigy.net/k2kw/dxcomp.htm
> http://www.elecraft.com/DXpeditions/QRP_is.pdf
> http://pages.prodigy.net/k2kw/learning.html
>
> 73,  Bill
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/QRP-Portable-and-Compromise-Antennas-tp4872023p4873137.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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